Sven Gustafson blogs about energy technology and manufacturing for Michigan Business Review.

The viability plans due this week to the federal government from Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. may well shake us from our collective Zoloft-induced haze of the past few months.

Credit the seemingly never-ending stream of bad economic news &ndash horrific auto sales, plant closures, even mass layoffs by plasma TV makers &ndash for the numbness we're all starting to feel as the recession deepens. Call it a survival mechanism, but there's only so much worrying a person can take before the patina hardens.

So something that an analyst told me today stood out.

I was helping my colleague write a story parsing the possibility that General Motors, Chrysler or both could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The idea was once anathema to the struggling automakers but has reportedly is being considered by GM CEO Rick Wagoner and other company executives.

"The one thing I've noticed, we've kind of been in a lull period. Everybody was in a period of panic back in November and December" when both automakers were furiously scrambling for cash and discussing a possible merger. (Then both companies managed to squeeze last-minute federal loans from the lame-duck Bush administration.)

"It seems like everybody's forgetting what a precarious position these companies are in. Without government funding they're basically insolvent. It's still a very, very serious situation. My real belief is you've really gotta keep cutting until you get to a profitable core. That's the only way Southeast Michigan is going to recover, as painful as it's going to be."